An unusual Australian workout trend is taking the UK by storm. Called Zuu, it involves squatting, scrambling and slithering around the gym, just like a wild animal.
This is like no gym class I’ve ever been to before.Check Out My Ankor What is Ankor Training ?
“Bear crawl” yells the instructor and the other six participants drop to the
floor, scrabbling around on their hands and knees, clambering towards the
middle of the room and back again.“Gorilla!” he yells and there’s a mass
swinging of arms and bounding forwards with flat feet. Bemused, I join in,
channelling my inner Mowgli as I literally ape what the others are doing.
But just as I've mastered the marsupials, we’ve moved on to “Iguanas!” –
which involves a sort of slithering plank – followed by “Frog squats!” –
dipping and bobbing with bent knees like a hyperactive amphibian.
I feel, and look, utterly ridiculous. But then so does everybody else. We’re
clambering and scrambling, rolling and diving, jumping and heffalumping our
way around the floor - legs and arms akimbo - in response to the seemingly
random animal names that our instructor, Jay Moore, is bellowing at
30-second intervals. Gone are the dour gym-faces we were sporting moments
ago. We’re making such a spectacle that a crowd has gathered. Some are so
intrigued that they’ve abandoned their cross-trainers to join in.
No ordinary gym class
It's a far cry from my usual inner-city gym experience: sweaty, testosteroney, adrenalin-filled dystopias, where the frenzied hum of machines drowns out my every thought. There's something about them that fills me with dread, from the buff bankers hogging the treadmills, the toned-and-tanned gym bunnies preening in the changing rooms, or the fact that nobody ever speaks or – worse – cracks a smile; they don’t tend to be welcoming places.
Unless, that is, you're at Virgin Active’s Health Club in Aldersgate, east
London, pretending to be a lizard.
The bizarre display is known as 'Zuu', an Australian-born fitness sensation that has just landed in the UK. Virgin Active has been trialling it at three health clubs in the capital and, so successful has it proved, that it's being rolled out across the whole country this summer. Based on primal movements and animal instincts, it’s a combination of strenuous cardio intervals, strength building and agility exercises. With fans including Sir Richard Branson, international sports teams and the military, it’s being hailed as the biggest fitness craze of the year. Better still, it’s as easy as it sounds: simply listen to the name of the animal and start moving around the room as if you're it (sound effects optional).
Invented by Aussie fitness fanatic Nathan Helberg, a father-of-four who describes himself as an “expert in primal pattern movements”, Zuu was piloted in Queensland in 2010. Since then, it’s become one of the continent’s most popular exports, with programmes in the USA, France and Japan. In a recent survey, the American College of Sports Medicine named high-intensity interval training as the top global fitness trend of 2014 – and Zuu aficionados haven’t looked back.
“The idea is to keep the heart rate nice and high,” insists Jay, when I gasp defeat. “They’re all natural movements that your body should be doing; it’s just that it hasn’t done them in a while. You stop doing this sort of thing when you’re a kid, so Zuu is about recapturing that energy and agility. You’re up on your feet and constantly moving. Don’t worry about looking silly” – this, at the sight of me, derriere in the air, trying to mimic a frog – “because you’ll feel great afterwards.”
Zuu has three main selling points: for all the pain, it’s over pretty quickly; it doesn’t require much space, so it’s perfect for tiny flats; and it gives impressive results. Just 15 minutes of rolling around like you’re at a three-year-old’s birthday party can burn between 500 and 1,000 calories. In real-life terms, that’s two Starbucks double-choc muffins. Or a sharing bag of salt-and-vinegar Kettle Chips. Plus wine. “It hits every part of the body from a fitness perspective,” adds Jay. “Women love it for weight loss or toning; men love it for muscle-building. Your heart rate fluctuates so much that it’s really good for you. If you put the work in, you’ll get so much out.”
There’s even an advanced stage, for when you’ve perfected the animal motions, whereby participants wear a resistance harness to make everything even harder. Feeling energised – or possibly delirious with exhaustion – I try it on for size. It’s like a miniature backpack attached by a lurid orange cord to a gym barre. I look like I’m going abseiling – or trying out for a part in the new Transformers movie. More than a few curious stares shoot my way as I run through my best mammal moves, feeling disconcertingly like I’m on a leash.
Then, suddenly, my 15 clammy, agonising minutes are up. In the communal spirit of Zuu, there are high fives all round – followed by rapid gulping of water and sighs of relief. I feel shattered but refreshed; like I could climb a tree and swing from its branches.
“The number one piece of feedback we’ve had,” says Jay, “is how much fun it is.” I can see exactly what he means. Whether it’s squatting like a frog, pouncing like a tiger or simply hopping up and down to get rid of my kangaroo’s pouch, this is my kind of gym class. People are – whisper it – actually smiling. And all it took was a bit of monkeying around.
The Frog Squat: Bend your knees, keeping your feet flat on the floor. Get low – so low you feel your thighs burning – and then pop up, as if on to a lilypad
The Bear Crawl: Bum in the air, hands and feet on the ground. Ditch your dignity and skulk forwards for four steps, then backwards for four
The Iguana: Get into the plank position and move alternate hands and feet forwards. Think Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment, minus the cat suit
The Crocodile: As above, but tuck your elbows in and scuttle forwards, jaws snapping.
Source : telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-health & ZUU creator Nathan Helberg touring the world with Ankorr Director Dirk Gardner
The bizarre display is known as 'Zuu', an Australian-born fitness sensation that has just landed in the UK. Virgin Active has been trialling it at three health clubs in the capital and, so successful has it proved, that it's being rolled out across the whole country this summer. Based on primal movements and animal instincts, it’s a combination of strenuous cardio intervals, strength building and agility exercises. With fans including Sir Richard Branson, international sports teams and the military, it’s being hailed as the biggest fitness craze of the year. Better still, it’s as easy as it sounds: simply listen to the name of the animal and start moving around the room as if you're it (sound effects optional).
Invented by Aussie fitness fanatic Nathan Helberg, a father-of-four who describes himself as an “expert in primal pattern movements”, Zuu was piloted in Queensland in 2010. Since then, it’s become one of the continent’s most popular exports, with programmes in the USA, France and Japan. In a recent survey, the American College of Sports Medicine named high-intensity interval training as the top global fitness trend of 2014 – and Zuu aficionados haven’t looked back.
Don't worry about looking silly?
I, meanwhile, am still being put through my paces. Virgin Active’s classes are currently only 15 minutes long (though they have plans to extend them to 45), but boy what a 15 minutes. Lights are flashing before my eyes; my limbs feel like deadweights; I’m sweating from places I didn’t know existed. One of the men drops out halfway through; others are frantically mopping the floor with their towels. Frog follows iguana follows cobra (another slithery one, with a side-to-side stretch); bear follows gorilla follows crocodile (during which I collapse and forget to pay attention).“The idea is to keep the heart rate nice and high,” insists Jay, when I gasp defeat. “They’re all natural movements that your body should be doing; it’s just that it hasn’t done them in a while. You stop doing this sort of thing when you’re a kid, so Zuu is about recapturing that energy and agility. You’re up on your feet and constantly moving. Don’t worry about looking silly” – this, at the sight of me, derriere in the air, trying to mimic a frog – “because you’ll feel great afterwards.”
Zuu has three main selling points: for all the pain, it’s over pretty quickly; it doesn’t require much space, so it’s perfect for tiny flats; and it gives impressive results. Just 15 minutes of rolling around like you’re at a three-year-old’s birthday party can burn between 500 and 1,000 calories. In real-life terms, that’s two Starbucks double-choc muffins. Or a sharing bag of salt-and-vinegar Kettle Chips. Plus wine. “It hits every part of the body from a fitness perspective,” adds Jay. “Women love it for weight loss or toning; men love it for muscle-building. Your heart rate fluctuates so much that it’s really good for you. If you put the work in, you’ll get so much out.”
Unleashing my inner beast
The name is, in a way, a bit of a misnomer – because not all the moves are named after animals. There’s the “sumo scissor” (a squat followed by kicking each leg alternately); the “thumb rock press” (a particularly undignified number requiring your hips to be in the air and your head to touch the ground) and the “hindu push up” (which reminds me of the ‘worm’, a move that should otherwise only be attempted by break dancers).There’s even an advanced stage, for when you’ve perfected the animal motions, whereby participants wear a resistance harness to make everything even harder. Feeling energised – or possibly delirious with exhaustion – I try it on for size. It’s like a miniature backpack attached by a lurid orange cord to a gym barre. I look like I’m going abseiling – or trying out for a part in the new Transformers movie. More than a few curious stares shoot my way as I run through my best mammal moves, feeling disconcertingly like I’m on a leash.
Then, suddenly, my 15 clammy, agonising minutes are up. In the communal spirit of Zuu, there are high fives all round – followed by rapid gulping of water and sighs of relief. I feel shattered but refreshed; like I could climb a tree and swing from its branches.
“The number one piece of feedback we’ve had,” says Jay, “is how much fun it is.” I can see exactly what he means. Whether it’s squatting like a frog, pouncing like a tiger or simply hopping up and down to get rid of my kangaroo’s pouch, this is my kind of gym class. People are – whisper it – actually smiling. And all it took was a bit of monkeying around.
Five Zuu moves to try at home
The Gorilla: Think Planet of the Apes. Long, heavy arms and big bounds forwardThe Frog Squat: Bend your knees, keeping your feet flat on the floor. Get low – so low you feel your thighs burning – and then pop up, as if on to a lilypad
The Bear Crawl: Bum in the air, hands and feet on the ground. Ditch your dignity and skulk forwards for four steps, then backwards for four
The Iguana: Get into the plank position and move alternate hands and feet forwards. Think Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment, minus the cat suit
The Crocodile: As above, but tuck your elbows in and scuttle forwards, jaws snapping.
